Nevertheless, Be You Faithful to Your God

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation Leave a comment

By faith Noah…prepared an ark to the saving of his house… -Hebrews 11:7

He was saved and his house. Oh, that God would give to every preacher of righteousness this full reward-himself and his house! O my brothers in the ministry, there is no greater joy for us than to know that our children walk in the truth! Perhaps some of you fear the Lord; and yet He has never given you your Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Alas! it may even happen that she that lieth in your bosom does not yet know the Lord. Nevertheless, be you faithful to your God, and to the souls of men. Hold the truth, if you stand alone. Even if in your own house you find your worst foes, hold on, and never doubt. Do not come down a step or two as to holiness, nor seek a lower platform upon which to meet more cordially an ungodly world. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the ever-blessed gospel. That is the one business of your life; and I believe that if you have faith in the Lord as to your family, your beloved ones shall be given you as a prey. Remember the Philippian jailer, to whom Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Do not rest content with half the promise. Grasp firmly the words, “and thy house.” Have you an Ishmael? then get alone, and, like Abraham, cry to God, “O that Ishmael might live before thee!” God will hear your prayer and bless Ishmael also. Oh, what a privilege it will be if you yourself and all your house are saved! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2147.cfm

If He Saith, “Go,” or “Stay,” Obey

Sherry Christian Life, Sovereignty of God Leave a comment

And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark…And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. -Genesis 7:2; 8:15-16

Noah’s obedience followed the command as he learned it. I admire his going into the ark without a question. All the cattle and the beasts and flying things are in the ark with him, and he does not pray to be let out. We may equally admire him for coming out again when called upon to do so. After we have once been shut in, some of us had rather stay in. We are not fond of changes. We grow accustomed to a certain line of things, and find in use a second nature; and we wish to remain as we are. It is so safe in the ark, and we are so peaceful, so conscious of being in the hollow of God’s hand, that we fear to come forth into a world so lately cursed. Noah came out without a question, and the first thing he did was to build an altar to the Lord, and so to prove that he was at home with God. Oh, for faith that will obey God anyhow and anywhere! You remember how God said to Elijah, “Hide thyself”; and away went the prophet to the brook Cherith, where none saw him but the fowls of heaven. A brave prophet like Elijah finds it hard to be in hiding; yet he does not disobey. Presently comes the command, “Go, show thyself”; and out he comes from his exile and stands before King Ahab, according to the word of the Lord. Whether God bids his true servants show themselves or hide themselves, they do His will at once.

“Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to dare and die.”

The will of the Lord is to be done by His servants, whether on earth or in heaven. If He saith, “Go,” they go; if He saith, “Stay,” they abide in their places. Oh, for such a faith as this! ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2147.cfm

The Good Fruit of Obedience

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, repentance, salvation Leave a comment

Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him. -Genesis 6:22

Noah obeyed the Lord very carefully. God said to him, “Make an ark”; and we read in answer thereto that he prepared an ark. There was careful preparation, and not hurried, thoughtless activity. He prepared the right materials; he prepared the different parts so as to fit together: he prepared his mind, and then prepared his work. In seeking the Lord, let us exercise our best thoughts. People do not go to heaven in the fashion of “hop, skip, and jump.” Carelessness cannot tread the highway of holiness. If you would know the way to hell, you may shut your eyes and find it: a little matter of neglect will surely ruin you- “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” But if you desire to go to heaven, I beg you to remember that “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” There must be determination, thought, care, attention; and faith must work with all these to produce obedience to the will of the Lord. Men are never right by accident, nor obedient to the Lord by chance; preparation of heart is wanted, and this the Lord must give. Alas! I fear some of you will miss eternal life, for you trifle about it! If you had a business to settle which involved the gain or loss of ten thousand pounds, how particular you would be; but when your whole soul is at stake, how many take up such matters at haphazard and risk eternal destruction! Not so Noah: he was precise in his obedience, and careful to remain so. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2147.cfm

Let Us Stand in Daily Fear

Sherry Attributes of God, Christian Life 3 Comments

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. – 1 Corinthians 10:12

Let us fear God because of His greatness; let us fear ourselves because of our sinfulness. Let us fear lest we should fall into sin, and perish with the rest of the sinners. Let no man say, “I shall never fall.” Alas! those are the most likely to slip. Did you never note that those who seem least likely to fall into a sin are the very people who commit it? You would not have dreamed that sober Noah should be found drunk; nor that righteous Lot should commit incest; nor that David, whose heart smote him when he only cut off the lap of Saul’s garment, should be guilty of murder; nor that Peter, who said, “Though all men should forsake Thee, yet will not I,” would have denied his Master with oaths and cursing.

By faith Noah… moved with fear… -Hebrews 11:7

Ah, friends! we may not trust ourselves; but we ought to stand in daily fear lest we be guilty before God. Here was Noah filled with such a holy fear of himself, that he took care to do what the Lord bade him, even to the most minute particular. He did not choose another sort of wood, nor alter the shape of the vessel, nor make more stories, nor more windows, nor more doors; but he distrusted his own judgment, and leaned not to his own understanding. He did exactly what he was told to do, and thus left the consequences with the Lord who commanded him. He feared his own wisdom: for he knew that man is like to vanity, and no more to be relied upon than the mist of the morning. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2147.cfm

A Wise Fear

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, salvation Leave a comment

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. – Genesis 6:8

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear… -Hebrews 11:7

Faith moulded him, but fear moved him. How was this? “I thought,” says one, “that perfect love casteth out fear.” Yes, fear of a certain sort; but there is another fear which perfect love embraces and nourishes. Noah had no evil fear. He had not a servile fear: he was not afraid of God as a culprit is afraid of a judge, or a convict of the hangman. He knew whom he believed, and was persuaded that He had a favour towards him. Noah had not a careless fear, as some here have. Fools say, “We never shall be saved, and therefore it would be useless to care about it. We may as well gather the rosebuds while we may. There is no heaven for us hereafter, let us make the best of the present.” No, Noah was a witness against such sensual carelessness. He so believed, that fear came upon him, and that fear made him act as God bade him. Beware of the unbelief which enables you to trifle; for trifling with eternal things is the suicide of the soul. Noah, on the other hand, had not a despairing fear, as some have. They say, “There is no hope. We have gone too far in sin already to dream of pardon and favour. We may as well let things take their course.” Beware of the poison-cup of despair. While life lasts hope lasts; and we beseech you not to lie down in sullen hopelessness. Noah was a stranger to this paralyzing fear: he bestirred himself, and built an ark. Some allow a presuming fear: “If I am to be saved,” say they, “I shall be saved; and if I am to be lost, I shall be lost. I may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and so I will have my fling, and go into sin even as I please.” Noah never spoke thus; for with his fear he had a good hope. He prepared an ark. He knew that none could save him but God; but as God bade him prepare an ark, an ark he prepared, and thus he was saved and his house. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2147.cfm

Building the Church

Sherry sermon Leave a comment

You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

Only in Separation is Salvation

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation 3 Comments

And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. -Genesis 7:16

See Noah and his family entering the ark! I do not think I should have selected the ark as a place of residence myself, nor would you have chosen to live in a place pitched within and without with pitch, with only one door and one window to it, and a great menagerie of birds, and beasts, and reptiles inside it. Whether that window ran all round the top just under the roof, so as to let light into the whole structure, I cannot tell; but I have no doubt that the jeering world said to Noah, “Well, old man, you have built a prison for yourself, and the sooner you go inside and shut yourself in the better; for we have had enough of your preaching!” When the good man and his family went in, and the Lord shut the door, they were dead to the world…When the Lord shuts you off from the world, you are best alone. Nowadays professors have not faith enough to dwell alone. They want two or three doors in the back of the ark, so that they may slip out every now and then, and do a little pleasuring with the world, and then glide back again and look like saints. As to being shut in with God and separated from the world-religious and irreligious-how few will endure it! How little is ever heard of that cry-“Come out from among them, and be ye separate!” “You might as well be dead,” cries one, “as be out of society.” Exactly so: and that is what the child of God looks for. “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” “Buried with Him by baptism into death.” “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” That separatedness which Noah took upon himself so willingly was involved in his salvation; for if he had lived with the world, he would have died with the world. Only in separation is salvation. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2147.cfm